Bad Wolf
by TheWhovianSherlockian
Summary: Clara asks the Doctor about the name Bad Wolf.
1. Bad Wolf's Name

"Hey, Doctor?"  
He stopped working an pushed up his googles.  
"Yes, Clara?"  
She looked a little confused and uncertain.  
"What is bad wolf?"  
"What?" He asked.  
"Well, back on Gallifrey, when we were with the younger yous, they mentioned the words bad wolf."  
He pondered for a few minutes. He still felt guilty over her. Rose. The younger him had been so naïve. He thought that he could force her to be happy. He knew that he couldn't do that with anyone, least of all her.  
There had been times when he had found weak spots in the wall separating them. He had thought about just going to watch her. He never had and he had always wondered what became of her and the other him.  
They would be old by now. Maybe they had children. A little blonde boy and a brown headed girl. Maybe one of the children was ginger. That would be ironic.  
But he had always been able to stop himself, because what if she wasn't happy? What if he had simply caused her even more misery? What if every day she woke up and saw the other him and remembered her life traveling and adventuring and missed it. Every single day.  
He couldn't handle that.  
He sat there thinking about it for minutes before finally Clara said something.  
"Doctor? Are you okay? You don't have to answer me."  
"No, no, no. I'm fine. Bad Wolf was one of my companions. She was a girl named Rose Tyler."  
She looked at the sadness in his eyes.  
"What happened to her?"  
He sighed heavily.  
"I left her somewhere. I left her somewhere and I couldn't ever go back."  
She was confused.  
"Why not?"  
"What?"  
"Why couldn't you ever go back?"  
A tear formed in his eye. Clara looked upset.  
"I'm so sorry. Don't answer that. I'll just-"  
"No. It's fine. She was trapped in an alternate universe. She escaped and I took her back because I hoped she would be safer and happier there than she would be with me again. I left her there with another man. Someone she could grow old with."  
He wiped tears from his face. Clara was surprised. She walked over and hugged him.  
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."  
He hugged her back.  
"It's okay, Clara. It's fine."  
They stood there for a while, hugging while the Doctor cried on Clara's short shoulders. She was shocked at this rare show of negative emotion. The Doctor never showed her his true feelings, although she could usually see them just below the surface.  
After a few minutes he stood up and wiped his eyes.  
"I'm going to go down to the library for a little while."  
"Okay." She said.  
She watched as he walked off, his hands in his pockets and his frame haunched. She hadn't known how important this would be to him.  
But no one could know exactly what could be important to a man who was over a thousand years old.  
She stroked the console for a moment, just as she had seen him do over a thousand times, and then she headed down to her room to sleep.


	2. Dreams of Meeting

Clara left the little blue box she called home, locking the door behind her as she headed to work. The Doctor would wake up in a few hours and head off to have an adventure while she was away, and although it would probably be something she had little to no interest in, it made her sad to miss even a moment with him.  
But, she would get to see her kids today, so that would make up for it.  
She was working as a second year teacher at a primary school in London. She loved seeing the bright smiling faces on the children as they walked one by one into the classroom every morning. It was not every moment for her, of course, what with all the time traveling and adventuring. It had been about a week since she last saw them and she missed them fiercely.  
She was humming to herself when all of a sudden a voice cut through her thoughts.  
"Hey, you! Who are you?"  
She turned to see a woman running towards her. She has taller than Clara, most people were, with bright blonde hair and a purple jacket. She was carrying a strange gun in her hands. She caught up and stopped, panting.  
"You just came out of a blue police box."  
"So what if I did?"  
The woman smiled.  
"Is the Doctor in there? Can you take me to him?"  
"I'm sorry, but, who are you?"  
Her smile faded.  
"You don't know?"  
Clara looked over her again, but still had no idea who she was.  
"No. Have we met before?"  
"I'm Rose. Rose Tyler."  
Clara did remember that tearful night where she had asked the Doctor about Bad Wolf.  
"You're Rose Tyler?"  
She smiled again joyfully.  
"Yes. That's me."  
"Oh, my gosh. He misses you so much."  
"He does?" She said so happy she could cry.  
"Yes. He said that he left you trapped in another universe."  
"Yes. But I came back. Again."  
"He'll be happy to see you."  
Rose broke down and cried. Clara held her awkwardly. She didn't really know this girl or how she had felt about the Doctor.  
"It's okay. He'll be here at about three to pick me up. I can call in a substitute at the school and wait with you?"  
"Oh, please, will you? Thank you." Rose said still crying.

Three came and Clara waiting outside the school where she knew the Doctor would come looking for her. She didn't really want to take the excited Rose directly back to the TARDIS, lest she be someone else.  
Soon the Doctor came walking around the corner of the building curious as to where she was.  
"Clara?" He yelled out.  
"I'm over here, Doctor."  
"Why are you over there? I told you I was going to park the TARDIS over here."  
Rose and the Doctor saw each other at the same time. The Doctor stopped in his tracks, twenty feet from where we stood. Rose just stared.  
"Who's that?" She asked.  
"Well that's the Doctor." Clara answered, confused.  
"What do you mean that's the Doctor?"  
She looked back and forth from him to Clara.  
"Rose?" He asked.  
She turned towards him again.  
"That's not my Doctor. He done it again. He's turned into someone else."  
The Doctor began walking closer.  
"Rose, is that you?"  
Then, she began working on her gun. The Doctor began running.  
"Rose wait!"  
She turned towards him again. He made it up to where we stood, and held her tight. She began crying again and pushed him off. He looked at her and saw the saddened expression on her face. His expression fell to match.  
"What happened?"  
"What happened when?"  
"You know what I mean. Tell me what happened."  
He thought about it for a minute and then answered.  
"He died saving a friend. He said goodbye to you. On New Years of 2004. You thought he was just a drunk. That was right before he died."  
Tears streamed down her face.  
"I remember." She said.  
"I still love you Rose." He said.  
She looked at him, really looked at him. He was shorter now. Closer to her own height. His hair was dark and longer. It fell in his eyes. He was wearing a long coat with a shirt and vest. And around his neck was a bow tie. The Doctor had hated bow ties.  
Then she turned to look at his new companion. She was short, the perfect size to compliment this stranger. Her hair and eyes were dark like his. She wore a dress that perfectly emphasized her slim figure.  
Then she turned back to the man before her. He had followed her gaze. His eyes had slightly glazed and he still stared at his perfect companion. Slowly he turned back towards Rose.  
"You're not him." She said.  
"No I'm not." He replied simply.  
Tears slid warm down her face as she pressed a button on her gun, and disappeared.  
Clara looked in disbelief while the Doctor continued to stare at the empty spot where she had disappeared.  
"I don't understand. What did she mean 'You're not him'? You're the Doctor."  
He turned towards Clara and hugged her tight. Then he pulled away smiling.  
"Clara. Clara, Clara, Clara. You've seen my past, present, and future. I assure you, you know better than me."  
He took her hand in his. She looked up at him, shocked. This had never happened before.  
"Shall we continue on as we were going to before and pretend that this never happened?"  
"If that's what you want."  
He pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed it.  
"It really, really is, Clara Oswald."

"Clara!" The Doctor whined, "We're going to be late to the wedding of the Great Queen of the galaxy Alison. I know how long it takes you to get ready in the mornings."  
Clara jolted out of bed. She had the weirdest feeling she had had some sort of strange dream. She couldn't remember half of it now. Just that the Doctor had kissed her hand. That alone made it strange. He had never shown that kind of affection towards her.  
"Clara!" He knocked on her door.  
"I'll be out in a minute you impatient nutter."  
"Well hurry up. I was lucky to make the correct day and I won't be able to try again."  
She got up out of the bed and began getting ready for her day to the normal everyday whinings of the Doctor.


End file.
